Pope Francis - where angels may fear to tread in Myanmar

Pope Francis is bravely visiting the former nation of Burma, now named Myanmar. (Rangoon's named was changed to "Yangon".)

Myanmar was formerly the nation of Burma

The Pontiff delivered the Christian message of peace to the Buddhist nation. In so doing, he avoided the dangerous subject of mentioning Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority

It's a visit to a nation where many angels might fear to tread, because of the volatility of the political situation and the ethnic suspicion of Christians, in the Buddhist nation.  

During his first speech, the Pope didn't mention Rohingya, the nation's Muslim minority religion. (Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya as citizens or as members of a distinct ethnic group with their own identity, and it rejects the term “Rohingya” and its use- reported in The Guardian).

Instead, the Pontiff called for unity and tolerance.

MaineWriter- when my husband and I visited East Asia, China and Japan a few years ago, we were struck with how our English speaking guides made a point of telling us about some of the religious traditions of the people.  Ironically, just telling us about the religious traditions was a statement, at least in my opinion, about the importance of spirituality among the people. Here are a few of my "top of mind" observations:

1.  Singapore- standing room only at Mass celebrated at the St Joseph Church, Upper Bukit Timah- It's been decades since we've seen Sunday Mass celebrated with so many parishioners assembled.

2.  Vietnam- crowds lined up to enter Notre Dame Cathedral or Basilica of Saigon, in Ho Chi Minh, to celebrate daily Mass, even though the guides informed us that no religion was supported by the government.

Richard and Juliana L'Heureux at the Shrine of the Vietnam Martyrs, inside the Cathedral Basilica of Notre Dame in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) Vietnam

3.  Bejing China- guides informed us about Christian houses where people worship outside of traditional churches. China "House 

Churches" or family churches are Protestant assemblies in the People's Republic of China.

4.  Kyoto, Japan- again, guides informed us that there was no state religion in the nation, but one of the most beautiful buildings in Kyoto was the St. Angnes International Episcopal Church.

As a matter of fact, the only nation on our Asian journey where religion was not discussed was in Cambodia. Therefore, we asked about the Christian traditions in Cambodia, a nation still recovering from the genocide perpetrated by the evil Khmer Rouge, beginning in the 1970's by the now dead leader Po Pot.  We received absolutely no response to our question.  (The Khmer Rouge was the name of the Cambodian communists and later the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia, that infamously carried out the Cambodian genocide.) In fact, the Khmer Rouge destroyed the Notre Dame Cathedral in Phnom Penh in 1975, a terrorist move to completely squelch Christianity. The only existing feature of the cathedral to survive the Khmer Rouge regime is a set of bells that were previously hung in the church's bell towers. They are now situated on the entrance steps of the National Museum of Cambodia

Pope Francis is a brave missionary to travel to Myanmar and on to the Muslim nation of Bangladesh.  

This is what Pope Francis said in Myanmar: 

“The future of Myanmar must be peace, a peace based on respect of the dignity and rights of each member of society, respect for each ethnic group and its identity.”

“Religious differences need not be a source of division and distrust, but rather a force for unity, forgiveness, tolerance and wise nation-building.” 

My experiences from having lived and visited in Asia, is that there is enormous interest in Western Christianity throughout all the nations. Even the complete reticence in response to our query about Christianity in Cambodia displayed a warning that the subject alone created too much attention to be discussed.

God Bless Pope Francis and may his brave missionary journies to Myanmar and Bangladesh be received in the spirit of creating peace.

Pope Francis is traveling where many angels may fear to tread.